Serpentine Fears

[Henric Lee]

The Slytherin drifted into the Hospital Wing airily, seeming to glide across the floors, his robes rustling slightly as he moved. Pale gray orbs flickered from side to side, watching the relatively small room; in his hands was Taylor Mercer, injured during her Quidditch Match. No one really knew what went on in the head of Henric Lee, no one but himself - and perhaps, sometimes, even he didn't know what he was doing. Striding gracefully across the room, he laid her prone figure down on the bed and settled into a seat beside her while waiting for Medical Staff to arrive. Still dressed in his long Quidditch robes of emerald green, with his windswept hair, he looked like a Warlock that had just come from some fierce Wizarding duel.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor felt something soft beneath her head and it seemed to slowly fade the darkness in her mind. She was aware of her senses coming back to her. The pain throbbing through her exhausted muscles becoming more prominent. Her eyelids fluttered, but she couldn't open them. She felt heavy, but she was thankful for the comfortable surface she was lying on. Suddenly what had happened came back to her. Letting out an audible groan she managed to open her eyes with much effort. Last she remembered she had been lying on the Quidditch pitch after catching the snitch, so the comfort she was resting in didn't make sense. She knew it had been a bad idea to fly today. Her thoughts had been too preoccupied with Scorpius and her Dad lately that she had been getting rarely any sleep. Quidditch should have been out of the question, but being the stubborn Gryffindor that she was, Taylor was convinced she could play.

As she managed to lift her eyelids completely open, she stared up at the roof and realised she was in the Hospital Wing. She remembered counting the lines on the roof of the place in her boredom the last time she was in one of these beds... Before Scorpius had found out she was hurt and stuck up here and came to see her everyday. Letting out another groan, Taylor shut her eyes closed again and turned her head to the side. She hated that everything reminded her of him. After a short moment, she opened her eyes once more, finding the task easier than it had been last time and Henric Lee came into her view. She simply stared at him, not even beginning to ponder why on Earth he was in here with her.

 

[Henric Lee]

In the time while she had been dozing, the pale boy had went to get two vials of Pepper-Up potion, was currently sipping one when he spotted her coming around. "Evening, Mercer." Henric said simply, his tempest orbs scanning her features with that uncomfortable sensation of boring into her mind. Holding out one of the vials, he gestured for her to take it. "It'll make you feel better." Leaning back upon the squashy chair he was seated upon as he watched her, he seemed blissfully ignorant of the awkwardness that surrounded their situation.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor blinked, thoroughly confused. She glanced at the vial in his hands that he had recommended she take. "Wh-" Taylor tried to speak, but her voice sounded scratchy and hoarse. She had been meaning to ask why she would take anything that Henric Lee had offered her of all people, but then decided that, she was in the Hospital Wing, so if something were to happen to her in here at least she was close to help. Reaching over, she took the potion tentatively, her arm aching as she did it. Turning her head back she tipped the potion down her throat. In only a moment she was feeling better. The pain in her body numbing and her head throbbing less. Placing the vial on the table beside the bed, she looked at Henric once more. Her green eyes questionably looking into intense gaze. "Thanks." She said softly, not forgetting her manners even for Slytherins. Clearing her throat to achieve a louder tone, Taylor finally asked, "Why are you here?"

 

[Henric Lee]

"Because the rest of your team were too preoccupied with victory to notice you had keeled over?" Henric suggested, a dry chuckle echoing forth as he downed his own vial in a swig. "And because I was the one who carried you over here." He looked as if he did not understand the implications of his actions, nor did he seem to mind very much that Taylor looked extremely confused. "Ah, fruit." The pale boy said as he reached over to a bowl filled with fruit and took an apple for himself. Raising his wand from within his robes, he begun to peel the apple expertly, waving his wand around it.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor felt a surge of disappointment at his words. Did they really not care that she was hurt? Did the fact that the seeker that had just won them the game had passed out mean nothing to them? Her thoughts filled her with more misery than she truly needed at the moment. Her brows furrowed as Henric began peeling an apple as though he didn't have a care in the world. "Okay." She said slowly, her eyes moving from the apple back to Henric's face. "What possessed you to carry me here?" She asked, wanting to know Henric's motives. Taylor didn't understand the boy at all. One moment he could be shiftily sly and the next he could be sickly sweet. The last Quidditch game he had threatened her and now this one he was helping her? Taylor simply wanted to know why.

 

[Henric Lee]

"I'm under the impression you've suffered enough." The boy replied curtly, casting his penetrating gaze upon her; he had the gift of being able to decipher and understand things that were meant to be kept a secret. "Don't you think?" He smiled at her warmly, and her in present state, she probably wouldn't be able to tell if it was artificial or genuine. Twirling his hand in his grasp, he waved it at the apple absentmindedly and murmured, "Wingardium Leviosa."

As the apple floated off its perch, drifted lazily over to Taylor, and plopped down on her hands, he cocked his head and asked, "Apple?"

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor looked at Henric warily. "I-I guess so." She said sadly, feeling a wave of strong emotion wash over her. She suddenly felt as though she wanted to burst into tears. She had just won the first match of Quidditch and she couldn't have felt worse. It was a sad day when Henric Lee was the only person that had offered her comfort in this depressing state she was in.

Taylor looked away from Henric and down at her hands, trying to keep her emotions in check. She was surprised when an apple landed in front of her. She picked it up and examined it. "Thanks, but I'm not really feeling up to eating." She confessed. She hadn't really felt up to eating in quite some time, another reason it had been stupid of her to fly today.

 

[Henric Lee]

Henric tilted his head to the other side inquisitively as he said, "Get something in your stomach so you feel human again." He held his arms out expansively, "I'm not going to poison you... Yet." Chuckling dryly, he rose from his seat and gave her a mock bow of his head. "Well, as my presence seems to be stifling your recovery, I'll let the Nurse patch you up." He made to leave, snatching up his broomstick as he waved at her airily with a final, "Goodbye, Mercer."

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor was just about to crack a small smile at Henric's words, when his usual attitude came back with the poison comment. Her face fell and she even managed to glare at him as he walked out. Every meeting she had with Henric seemed to leave her feeling confused, this one especially. Why had he even bothered bringing her here? Surely someone else would have done the same thing if he hadn't? She still had many questions she wished to ask, but now she was left in silence as she waited for the nurse to come and tell her what the damage was. For the millionth time that day the feeling of being completely alone washed over her.

 

[Henric Lee]

Stepping out of her ward, he shut the door silently behind him as he left. Taking hold of a rickety old chair beside the room, he slid it over beside the door, sat down, and with nothing betraying his emotions save for a twitch of his lips that could have been a smile, he closed his eyes as he begun his silent vigil over her ward. He left her to ponder over the many questions she was going to have popping up in her head.